Makes sense. A few months after the PS4 presentation so Microsoft can think of the ways to give a proper response, and a few months before the E3, so that devs have some time to refine what they're going to show.

Not entirely true though. Microsoft can make minor changes now that they've seen what Sony has in store. For example, now that Sony has exclusive deal with Bungie for Destiny Microsoft can do the same. These deals happen can happen any day.

Unless YOU know the finalized spec of the nextbox, shut your pie hole.

there are currently two refference designs that have been rumoured for nextbox....one is based on a custom powerPC design the other based around the same jaguar APU as the PS4. seeing as nobody has spilled the beans on the final reference design..it would be wise to just pipe down,mate.

Not sure why people are talking about we know the finalized specs. Sony just very recently added that extra 4gb of ddr5 ram to PS4. Also as above poster stated the 360 was only going to ship with 256 until last minute. Simply put, we don't know anything.

All of this is specs and announcements are nothing more than to get the hardcore gamers excited. Fact is, none of this is likely to really have a big bearing on the console race.

It is more in the long term execution. A good example of this is the 3DS, whom started off very slowly, but with Nintendo's swift management managed to turn it around. On the flip side, the PS Vita whom was almost universally praised at announcement is quickly turning into a flop.

So what have we learned? Execution over claims regardless of who it is, MS, Sony, Nintendo or anyone else.

Sony's reveal shows that Microsoft really CAN'T improve its hardware to beat the PS4 specs unless they're interested in costing more or losing more money. This is for the simple fact that the PS4 is as good as it can be while remaining affordable for a home console. Any advantage Microsoft wants to make will have to be software based. This means more publisher exclusivity and a stronger Xbox Live (because the next-gen PS4 makes grand promises, which, if delivered upon, will make PSN a total behemoth).

Microsoft won't focus on hardware, only software. If they don't bring the hardcore, they're going to have a rough time beating Sony's offerings.

M$ definitely has a tactical advantage, but it comes at the cost of living up to expectations. Now they don't have to just be good, but be on par or better than what we've seen from the PS4. Even if the specs are in fact final (some people seem to think that better specs = better games), they could have a stronger showing of games or more interesting features to beat Sony. A lot of what you will see is them announcing comparable features to the PS4 and announce things that might make them look better than Sony. For instance being backwards compatible.

@ Nukeitall

The 3DS was actually praised / viewed highly after its initial showing. So much so (or at least logically so) that it ended up with the absurd $250 dollar launch price. The 3DS also followed the Vita in terms of lack of games, sales and support at the start. The only difference is that Nintendo had to drop the price and is a little more established. Give it some time and the Vita will come back.

The reason why MS thought it strange to not show the actual console is because visual aesthetics are just as important as brand recognition. This has been a cornerstone to MS's marketing of the 360. Always show the console. Always show the console. Definitely less so w/ the PS3. But marketing research goes hand in hand w/ the research of the technology. It's almost as if Sony didn't finish deciding what the thing would look like, so they couldn't even show a prototype of the actual device. That's why it was weird and, quite honestly, I'm glad MS called them out on it.

We have no idea what an motivated company can do with cash to changed things at the last minute.

We are also assuming when these new consoles are actually going to be out vs what is rumored or said.

360 specs were changed late because a developer wanted more RAM for GEARS (((LOOKS LIKE SURGE ALREADY SAID THIS)

The mistake is assuming the PS4 is or was the most powerful console based on old leaked info and rumors that are false or outdated.

-What matters is that the 360 was wildly successful

-MSFT made alot of cash

-360 price was never dropped much due to demand

-MSFT has so much revenue coming in they can take a massive hit from the 720 launch price.

-MSFT wants to use the xbox as a platform for all their products insuring the 720 has to be basically a Home theater PC(very powerful)

-MSFT purchased lots of studios and had them all focus on the 720.

-xbox 720 will be something very different from anything we have ever seen.

} This is why Sony changed the specs in the PS4 to slightly out do the old outdated specs that were leaked from MSFT.

There was an article on N4G about a month ago that had supposed PS4 devs saying Sony had 4 gigs of memory at first but changed the specs to match the leaked specs of the 720 that had 8 gigs. Clearly Sony thinks they one uped MSFT not considering those where old internal plans.

For all we KNow the 720 is more PC with 10 gigs of ram and has a subsidized payment plans(MSFT already testing that with 360) for a more PC-sh SKU like what was rumoured

Not really. Revealing after Sony is a disadvantage. Like it or not, Microsoft is reacting to Sony. Sony made the first move, PS4 is the first next-gen console revealed and developers love what Sony is doing with the system. Expect PS4 to be the lead platform next-gen.

So is Sony reacting to Nintendo then? As if being first to reveal something can't be an recation to others that have not revealed yet LOL

You do know going first is the ultimate recation right? MSFT went first this gen reacting to Sony's dominance of the past.

Nintendo and Sony are reacting to MSFT's dominance this gen. MSFT has forced them to move on.

You really think a company only gets concerned when somebody goes first? A company that forces others hands also knows they are a force to be reconed with as well as needing to be ready to defend that dominance.

Anyway I'm not buying the statemnt from the Sony devs saying the PS4 reveal caused mayham at MSFT.

MSFT probably already considered they would force Sony to jump the gun getting the first hype going. Sony doesn't even have a console, not just cosmetically either but it's basically in concept on PC.

MS did not show the 360 at E3 2005. In fact those were all locked away boxes and supposed to be souped up PowerPC (Macs) at the time. Google it. MS has a history to fake their way through press events (Kinect "choreographic" anyone?), but yet this is always OK with them and their fans. I don't really care, tbh. I made up my mind already, won't get both and what I saw is sufficient to say, I made a decision already. Go figure (no surprise there, I guess). Call me a fanboy, doesn't really bother me (you people have made up your mind a long time ago anyway, so what does it matter).

MS can't change the specs, either. Not much headroom for what they did. Not sure if they will have the muscles to add more CUs to the GPU; this is probably in range of possibilities. But adding RAM is one thing, re-engineering a chip when you should actually be working on that BOM to kick start production by mid of the year to fulfill supply and demand for the holidays is another. Especially because MS went the complicated route with their chipset design. This is locked down and done, they can't just pop in another GPU - if they really want to release this year. And they can't change the way the memory works without throwing the whole concept over board.

MS has a new Kinect. And this is just the wrong focus. It's a nice add on, but not the core (at least for me, who knows what the majority wants). They invest almost as much into this thing as into the console itself; not sure if that's so smart; and eventually it is nothing new.

Gaikai integration in PSN is the biggy here; maybe not really visible for some, but this will make a whole online experience, you'll see. (I'm not talking about a Gaikai client, but how this works with Vita, tablets, phones, and the instant feature in PSN - maybe they stole that from MS. Who knows).

UE4 debut on PS4, so that is also some for of guarantee that those "cheap" ports will do just fine now.

And Green, sure MS forced Sony to do what they are doing - but I guarantee you they were shocked they actually pulled that off.

And about the showing...I can just tell you that there are actually devboxes for the PS4 - not boards in a PC case;) Just saying.

Hey, and speaking of "forcing". If MS shows us something in April, I am sure that they were "forced" by Sony to not let them sail away with all the buzz they are getting right now. I'm sure this wasn't planned.

I would like to leave some food for thought that brings some validity to cherry_olsen's statement.

Think way back when the Xbox 360 released, and the PS3 wasnt released for another year afterwards. You would naturally think to yourself that they can look at the Xbox 360s hardware, and spend the extra year beefing it up and making sure they out do it, but something happened, they didnt. Not even a RAM upgrade. WHY? Because you can't make last minite changes to the architecture so close to release. Developers rely on the final specs and completely changing that would put them well behind and cause them to possibly miss launch.

What I'm getting at is the leaked specs are going to be accurate, and Microsoft doesnt have the time to change any major components. Thats what the last 7 years was for. You can't gut the whole damn system and upgrade it all in the last 7 months. You have to start production of the parts during that time.

So don't expect MS to announce 8gb of GDDR5 and the Titan GPU come april. It's too late, even if they wanted to spend the money, there is no time.

Sure there's slight tactical advantage, but considering how SuperDaE leaked the Orbis details with most of the info being spot on, I think both of the manufacturers have pretty good idea what the other is after. (he leaked Durango info as well.)

It's like poker where suddenly the 3rd player picks the cards of the other two and throws em on the table for everyone to see.

From your article: "a core AAA shooter experience using Kinect." Nothing else is known about the rest, but I bet at least one more is Kinect based - they need to recoup their costs and are determined to shove the peripheral down everyone's throats.

Do you read what you post? Judging from how successful - read: not successful - Kinect has been with core gamers and for core games, I don't know why anyone is excited for more Kinect 2.0 shovelware.

Also, a significant portion of MS' "next-gen" development went into that massive television/ advertising/ cross-media studio that they opened. So if you're expecting a tsunami of awesome 1st party AAA games, you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

how much of the ps move did sony showcase at the ps4 reveal? That's right, next to none... besides the one segment.

I am willing to bet that 90% of MS 1st party studios will be nothing but kinect... just wait and see. Looks like it's going to suck being an xbox fanboy next gen , especially if you're forced to be online to play anything!

Keep the trolls guessing on what will be lol... Let sony and nintendo know whos got the football. Suspense its the mother load of all trolls, so keep them waiting until the final blow.

I know what you have, would you like to see mines? lol...

If the leak was correct from superdae, there will be hardly any diference at all, except for speed. Problem with that its on ram, but even high end pc all they need is 8gb of ram and a 6 core to run the most up to date pc game. Both sony and MS will be closed together more similar than ps3 and 360 cause of the same company providing same cpu anf similar gpu. At the end of the day both will be PC ports to each other.

I think MS will have the most innovation this gen, sony showed nothing besides high harware spec and outdated remote thats been around 15 years and now add another 8 years to ps4 remote ugh...

they got 4 New IP to show, so I'm hoping to see maybe 1-2 of them and some third party games. Maybe even BF4? And we all know that even with 4 new IP, microsoft won't abandon their old franchises, so maybe a sequel from one of them?

Pretty sure both Sony and Microsoft are saving things for E3. Sony can announce the price point and any bundles that they may be looking to sell. They will probably show the final design of the console along with demos of the games that were shown at the ps4 announcement. SE even said something about the next Final Fantasy being at E3 (I hope its FF: Versus). I dont own a 360 this gen, but I'm still excited to see what Microsoft will show. I'm still amazed the Microsoft managed to rack up more JRPG's this gen.

They were to show it off in March At the GDC now they have subsided in April.....if true damn they cant go into GDC talking about seven year old hardware and how great its to develope game for xbox live. MS is tripping over there own feet Sony will be talking about new next gen hardware at GDC.